


Traps and Sneaks

by quicksilversquared



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, creative engineer!Marinette, in which Marinette Does Not Mess Around with security measures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:33:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25476952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quicksilversquared/pseuds/quicksilversquared
Summary: As the Guardian, it's Marinette's job to protect the Miracle Box and all of the Miraculous inside of it from evil. Obviously just sticking it away somewhere hidden isn't going to cut it, so Marinette makes a box to hide it in. A booby-trapped box. A very dangerous booby-trapped box.And if a certain someone gets their thieving little fingers caught in it, so be it.
Comments: 105
Kudos: 911





	1. Chapter 1

Having the Miracle Box just sitting around in her room was _stressful_.

Sure, Master Fu had left her the gramophone that he had hidden the box in when he was the Guardian, but it just didn't _fit_ with her room. It stuck out like a sore thumb, very obviously _not_ belonging to her. Add in the fact that Chat Noir _and_ Hawkmoth had both seen it and knew that it was associated with the Miraculous, and only a crazy person would keep using it to hide the Miracle Box.

Despite the amount of pressure she had pushing on her from all sides, Marinette was not a crazy person. Yet, at least.

"So I know that I can't use the gramophone, but that doesn't solve the problem of what I _can_ use," Marinette told Tikki, absentmindedly doodling on a piece of paper as she tried to brainstorm. Both gramophone and Miracle Box were hidden in her storage bench at the moment, but they couldn't _stay_ there. "It needs to be hidden, and it needs to not stick out at _all_. Which, well..."

 _Master Fu's things don't qualify_ went unsaid.

"Well, you should make sure that it's locked away," Tikki told her. "And that it won't be possible for you to accidentally leave it _unlocked._ And then make sure that no one can accidentally stumble on it. And keep in mind that you babysit pretty often, so..."

Marinette shook her head. In her first night as Guardian, she hadn't been able to sleep at _all_ (something that Tikki _still_ didn't know, because she hadn't wanted to worry her kwami) and had spent the time brainstorming some initial changes that she would have to make so that she could handle her new duties without getting overwhelmed. One of the first things to come up was the fact that both Alya's sisters and Nino's brother didn't know the definition of _privacy_ or _not prying,_ and she was going to have all sorts of herbs and other ingredients for potions in her room. There really wasn't any way to stop babysitting Manon without questions, but Manon also wasn't over _that_ often and it was usually during the day, when she could go to the park. "I told Nino and Alya that I can't babysit their siblings anymore, I'm just too busy. Manon will still be over sometimes, but I can make sure that we stay downstairs."

"Still, keep in mind that you have friends over pretty often," Tikki added. "So the point remains."

Marinette nodded, glancing back towards her storage bench. It _did_ have a lock on it (which was a new addition, honestly), but it wasn't the kind that would _re-_ lock automatically if she was in a hurry. Her friends wouldn't dig in it- or they didn't _normally_ , at least _-_ so theywouldn't notice if it was locked, but because of the whole not-auto-relocking thing, she would probably spend a not insignificant amount of time during fights worrying if she had remembered to re-lock it afterwards, and that would be a distraction. _Especially_ if an akuma showed up near the bakery or worse, entered her room.

That bench had been thrown around more than once during akuma fights. If she forgot to re-lock it one day and that happened and the gramophone tumbled out, that was her secret identity spoiled. And that _could not happen_.

Maybe she could have a locked box for the Miracle Box _inside_ of the locked storage bench, and then just move the emptied gramophone to storage? Then if she forgot to re-lock one of the two locks, it wouldn't matter so much. That meant that she would have to build a custom box for the Miracle Box to go in, but it wasn't as though she hadn't done that before, with her diary box-

Marinette froze. _That was it!_ She could build a booby trap into the storage bench, to make sure that the Miracle Box would be kept safe. Or maybe it would be smarter (and easier) to build the trap into the smaller custom box that she was going to put together to hold the Miracle Box, which would then go inside of the bench. There would be less chance of someone (probably Manon) getting caught and hurt by a booby trap if it was behind not one but _two_ sets of locks, and then she could build it into the box itself instead of adding it on later. Add on the fact that she would have to create some way to disarm the booby trap (preferably _before_ she opened the box), plus the fact that it would be better to _not_ have any visible alterations to her storage bench, and that made the custom box idea even more favorable.

Almost automatically, Marinette flipped her doodle-filled paper over and started sketching. The box she was going to make would have to be large enough to hold the Miracle Box, but fit closely enough that the Miracle Box wouldn't rattle around. _Too_ tight, and she would have trouble putting it in and getting it out. She could use thick foam to line the inside, with grooves so that her fingers wouldn't have any trouble getting around the box to pull it out. It would be square, because- well, that was a fairly standard, non-descript shape. And maybe there would be a double lock on the box, too- the first one would open to a top compartment, which would just have some papers in it, maybe. The papers would hide the false bottom- well, as much as they _could_ when the false bottom made up most of the box- and also throw off anyone who shook the box in hopes of getting a clue of what was inside. Then the lock inside would lead to the actual Miracle Box.

Now, for the outside of the box...what should it look like? She _could_ go for the same sort of look as her diary box, young and fun and done to the best of her ability. Marinette could also try to go for something similar to the gramophone, with decorations and hidden buttons, but- well, that seemed like a lot of work, eating up a lot of time that she already didn't have to spare, and it would stand out. If someone found out that she was Ladybug, then if they stumbled across a box like that it would catch their attention at once.

And really, the same thing would apply if she went for a style like her diary box. It would be large enough and nice enough to draw someone's attention, and if there was something _off_ about it- if it was oddly heavy or something- then that would be pretty suspicious.

Which left the option of making a box that _looked_ sloppy, like something she might have made as a child or as a trial run when learning how to make boxes, but that was actually very solid. It would make sense to have it tucked away if it was an earlier project that hadn't turned out well, and if it looked flimsy- well, it wouldn't be something that most people would expect to be holding magical jewelry. Marinette actually had a couple boxes that she had decorated as a kid still sitting around, and- well, maybe they weren't the nicest things to look at, but they did a good enough job of holding beads and thread and whatever other art supplies Marinette needed organized.

And of course, they were also a good reminder to actually put things away once she was done with them, because Marinette wasn't exactly interested in having her earlier projects sitting out. So having the box that she was planning tucked away hopefully wouldn't raise any flags if anyone ever stumbled on it.

Smiling, Marinette considered the drawing she had just made. It was just an initial sketch, of course, and she would probably end up making some changes to it before it actually got made, but she was liking the idea more and more. Maybe making it would take up a good chunk of her already-limited free time for a bit, but that was just the price of being Guardian.

At least she had some practice making trap boxes. Sure, this one would be a step up, but it was hardly going to be going to be _completely_ unfamiliar territory.

* * *

The box project had somehow rocketed from being a modified diary box to something _much_ more in only a couple short days.

Marinette had pulled out a whole bunch of the kwamis to bounce the idea off of them and see if they could see any flaws in her plan, and they had very quickly brought up the point that Hawkmoth had a sword and might just try to _cut_ his way through the booby-trapped box, bypassing the locks and whatever trap she came up with altogether. It wasn't like she was just dealing with Chloe and Sabrina again. Hawkmoth was a bigger bad, and had more tools at his disposal.

Even if he _didn't_ have a sword, he would probably be able to get through. Marinette had seen her yo-yo's string cut through solid metal before, and Chat Noir had been able to smash a lot of things with his baton that- well, that would normally take a machine to crush like that. She had been pretty let down at that- what, did she just have to rely on doing a good job of hiding the box?- until the kwamis pointed out that Master Fu's gramophone box had been reinforced, using metal that had been enchanted by the Guardians. At first, Marinette had groaned, since she hadn't gotten that sort of training, but then she remembered one _very_ important detail, one that somehow she had overlooked for too long.

With Feast defeated and the contents of its stomach returned to their previous places in the exact state that they had been in when the sentimonster consumed them, the Temple of the Guardians was back. The Order was back. Maybe she didn't have Master Fu as a mentor and a resource anymore, but she was hardly _alone_. And maybe they spoke different languages, but surely magic could help them _somehow_.

And that was how Marinette found herself locked in her room (to keep nosy parents and surprise friend visitors alike out) while she transformed in front of a white sheet that she had hung from her wall, hiding any identifying details. She had reached out to the temple beforehand, messaging them on her yo-yo several times before she finally got through to someone and managed to set up a video-chat time. Now, she was just nervously waiting for the Guardian that had agreed to chat with her to call.

Hopefully they would be willing to help. Hopefully they wouldn't think that she was too young and immature to hold the title of Guardian. Hopefully they wouldn't say that she had to give up her role and someone else- someone _trained_ \- would take her place.

The kwamis didn't think that it was likely. Master Fu had approved of her, she was doing a great job, and the Guardians were hardly about to relocate to Paris to take over the fight, particularly considering that there was a pretty significant language barrier.

And then her yo-yo rang. Ladybug scrambled for a second, swiping her _accept call_ button as quickly as she could. The screen display crackled for a moment, then settled to reveal a man who- well, who was clearly transformed with a Miraculous, but his outfit was styled after a monk's robes, at least from what she could see. It wasn't the kind of outfit that would be good for fighting in, but she supposed that if they were simply studying the Miraculous and their powers, it didn't really matter if there were dangling things that could snag or be grabbed.

"Hi!" Ladybug said right away, flashing what she _hoped_ was a confident smile. "Thank you so much for agreeing to meet with me! It's very much appreciated."

There was a pause on the other end of the line, and the Guardian tilted his head, considering his- well, the screen on whatever weapon he got with his transformation. Then he started talking- or, rather, his lips started moving, but there was no sound.

For a long moment, Ladybug nearly panicked- was there something wrong with the connection?- and then the audio started coming through, slightly stilted and mechanical as the kwami magic translated his words, albeit with a small lag.

"Yes, hello! It is nice to hear from you, Ladybug. I am the Guardian Master Norbu. We have heard that there is some sort of Miraculous disturbance in Paris and that you are now a Junior Guardian. We would like to offer our assistance in any way we can. Can you give us a summary of what is going on there?"

"Of course!" Ladybug said at once, her mind already whirring as she tried to figure out how to best tell Master Norbu about what was going on. "So, Hawkmoth- a Butterfly user- started attacking Paris over a year ago. We usually get an akuma once every two or three days, though there have been some times when we get several attacks in a row. We've also had one time when Hawkmoth somehow gave himself a power-up and send out _hundreds_ of akumas at the same time. He didn't attack for a _week_ after that, so I assume that that took a lot out of him. We've also had a Peacock user attacking. She didn't come out until his big attack, and then only came out occasionally. Master Fu thought that the Miraculous might be corrupted..." She trailed off as the Guardian held up a hand, clearly wanting to say something.

"So there are two supervillains now... how many superheroes?"

"There's two of us on full-time," Ladybug said after a pause, making sure that Master Norbu was done talking before starting to speak again. "Chat Noir and I. We have temporary superheroes that we sometimes pull in when we need a boost. Or we used to, but Hawkmoth managed to find out the identities of almost all of them with an akuma. I'm working on finding new teammates, but it's not easy."

"Yes, I can imagine that it would be difficult to quickly assess who would and would not be reliable enough to trust with a Miraculous," Master Norbu agreed. "Here, we have years to pick out kids suitable for training, and then we can decide between those kids who is worthy of holding a Miraculous and joining our ranks. It is still hard to find people, and we have _dozens_ of us and plenty of time to look around for candidates that meet our standards."

Ladybug tried not to cringe at that and ask what their _standards_ were. Her "standards" really just consisted of people that she knew, who she knew would return their Miraculous when asked and who she could trust to fight alongside her. And even _those_ standards hadn't always been met- Chloe wasn't someone she trusted at all, even before she went all dark-side, but she had just needed another teammate who knew how to use their Miraculous already.

"Anyway, I interrupted," Master Norbu apologized. "Do continue."

Quickly, Ladybug summarized the rest of their situation- the frequency of the sentimonster attacks on top of the akuma attacks, the reemergence of Feast and its defeat, and Master Fu's downfall. That brought them to where they were now, with her the Paris Guardian despite her fairly basic training.

"To tell you the truth, it sounds like Wang Fu managed to pass on the majority of what _he_ had learned before the temples fell," Master Norbu told her once she was finished. "There are somethings, like translations, that take years to learn how to do with any sort of reliable accuracy and speed. And then of course repetition and practice will help things stick better than rushed lessons."

"Right." Marinette worried her lip, then decided to dive into the reason she called. She didn't know how long she would be left uninterrupted, so it would be best for her to dive right into the problem that she needed help with. "So the reason I reached out to you is because I'm currently trying to ensure the safety of the Miracle Box. It's being stored in my room, hidden in a storage bench. I wanted to make a box that could hold it, but- well, let me show you the picture I drew. I'd want the box to be locked and have two compartments, a top bit that'll just have papers or something, and then bottom that opens to where the Miracle Box would be. And then the top would have a spring, like this box." She set aside the drawing and held up her diary box. "If I reach in and pick up the diary, like so-"

The box snapped shut over her wrist. Ladybug waved it at the Guardian, then pulled out her key to get the box off.

"I can see where you are going with that," Master Norbu said, smiling. "It looks like _quite_ the design. My concerns with it would be if it would hold up to a Miraculous weapon, and whether someone who got trapped in it would simply be able to wrench their hand out when it snapped shut. It might be an inconvenience, but unless the trap is going to do some damage..."

"The kwamis thought that the Order might be able to make some sort of enchanted metal to go in the box to keep Hawkmoth from simply slicing it open," Ladybug told him. "It's the reason I reached out, actually. That's not something that I would know how to make, but it sounds like it would be a pretty good solution."

"We can do that. You would need to either cut and shape the pieces yourself or give us _exact_ measurements, but it is a straightforward enough process to put on the enchantment, if you know what you're doing. And we certainly do." Master Norbu smiled at her. "It's a good plan. Do you have any further ideas about perhaps upgrading the trap hidden in the box's upper portion?"

Ladybug leaned forward, leaning her chin against her palm and her elbow against her knee, thinking it over. At first, she wasn't coming up with anything, but then her mind drifted to the sort of things she had wished on Hawkmoth in her darkest, most frustrated moments, times when she was tired and angry and tired of dealing with Hawkmoth's nonsense.

And that provided a whole _slew_ of ideas.

"I'm thinking maybe something like a bear trap," Ladybug said slowly, taking her chin off of her hand and reaching for a notebook. "One of those ones with the teeth. Except..." She tugged her phone over to her lap, googling bear traps. "They're not supposed to _break_ legs, just hold them. So it might be a tougher hold than my trap box, but not damaging."

"Eh, some sharpening and a few enchantments will take care of that," Master Norbu decided, nodding his head sharply. "I have a few things in mind, actually. Though you would have to come up with some sort of release mechanism to make sure that _you_ do not get caught in the trap."

Ladybug nodded. She had a few ideas already, modifications of her diary snap box's mechanism. She could try some of those and puzzle out something that would be safe for her using just wood before transferring it into metal form. "I can do that. I came up with the mechanism for my diary box, so I know how the basic version of the spring works and how I can maybe modify it. I'll start working on some prototypes right away."

"And we will get to work on the metal for you to use," Master Norbu assured her. He glanced back and off to the side. "And I think that is my cue to go, unless there is something else that you wanted to discuss right away?"

"That's all for now," Marinette assured him. "Thank you so much!"

"It is nothing. We are happy to help. Take care, Ladybug."

"Goodbye!"

With that, the call ended. Ladybug let out a long breath- oh, wow, she had _still_ been jittery through that entire call- and closed her yoyo, releasing her transformation. As the last sparkles faded, she turned around and started taking down the sheet she had hung as backdrop before she could forget.

Tikki zipped around her eagerly. "So? How did it go? Did they agree to help? Did they have any suggestions?"

"It went well," Marinette told her, smiling as she pulled the last corner loose and the sheet fluttered down into her arms. "And yes to both of your questions. Master Norbu agreed to make the enchanted metal right away. And he _did_ suggest that I modify the booby trap, actually- now, it's gonna have _knives_."

Tikki could only blink, taken aback. "Good _god_."

* * *

It was all too easy to swing by a hardware store across the city after a weekend akuma attack ended there. Marinette picked her way through the store, familiar enough with the layout that it didn't take long at all for her to figure out what she needed for both her box and for her prototype spring trap.

There were a _lot_ of gears and wires and screws that were going to be involved, and she was going to have to look at her lock mechanisms to see how she could ensure that it would all tie together and never fail on her. But she had gotten a lot of things to play with so that she could _hopefully_ have something to report the next time that she checked in with Master Norbu.

And then it was time to start the trial-and-error process of making the snap mechanism.

It was _difficult_.

There were moving parts _everywhere_ , it seemed, and connections that had to be _just so_. Pieces for the different components kept getting tangled up, wires and gears snarling and coming to a stop before they could do what they were meant to.

"Maybe you should break the trap down to its separate parts," Tikki suggested. "There's the lock, the connection between the lock and the spring, and then the spring for the trap."

" _And_ the extra thing that I wanted to put in, to lock the bear trap in place when it closes, and how _that_ would tie into the lock release," Marinette added. "Which will have to be cast in the enchanted metal. Everything that will be exposed from the top will be. But as long as I have the pieces, in theory we'd be able to cast them? I'd assume so, at least. I don't really have any experience with metalworking." She tipped her head to the side, considering the mess of gears in front of her. "Breaking it down into those steps makes sense, though. Then I can figure out exactly where things are going wrong."

"Exactly!"

Marinette considered the pieces sprawled out in front of her. After a moment, she pushed the majority of the mess to the side, pulling her faux-trap (made of wood, because that was easy enough to throw together) in front of her. That was the main part and the most important, so everything _here_ had to be solid and perfect. If it wasn't, then any of her intended safety measures elsewhere would be useless. Like this, it was easier to see her pieces and how they fit together. All of a sudden, the path forward became obvious and Marinette flung herself into her work again, test-fitting gears and putting them in place. An improved spring mechanism came together in a flash, closely followed by the piece that would lock the trap shut, making it completely resistant to being pried open. Then there had to be a connection between _that_ and the actual lock so that it could be disarmed when she unlocked the box properly, even if the unlocking happened _after_ the trap shut.

It was a pity that she wouldn't be able to show anyone else her work, really. All of the moving parts- the majority of which had to be positioned so that they could be hidden- were an absolute _beast_ to wrestle with and would _definitely_ be worth some extra credit if she could show Madam Mendeleev. But that wasn't the point of the trap, and she had to make sure that she didn't do _anything_ to make anyone suspicious about what she was up to.

Even if she could _really_ use the extra credit in Math since an akuma attack had meant that she hadn't been able to study for the latest test properly.

"Don't forget to take breaks," Tikki cautioned as Marinette added a small piece that- when the box was unlocked and the trap was disarmed- would flip from showing the red side to the green side, _just in case_. She knew how much of a rush she tended to be in when she had to come get more Miraculous during akuma attacks, so the additional warning- or reassurance, whichever- about whether things were disarmed or not would be _much_ appreciated, even with all of the other failsafes in place. "And don't forget your homework! I know you want to have a prototype ready ASAP, but you can't neglect your civilian responsibilities."

"No worries there, I'm all caught up," Marinette assured her. "I worked ahead on my homework while I was waiting for the Guardians to get back to me, and then I've been getting little stuff like readings done between classes." It was normally time that she would spend chatting with Alya and her other friends and classmates, but between the fact that she needed to _not_ be letting herself get overwhelmed thanks to schoolwork piling up because of akuma attacks and the fact that Lila seemed to spend the time between classes holding court, it wasn't exactly a tough choice. She reached over, tapping the small calendar that sat on her desk. It was a new addition, but a useful one. "And I can see when I have things due, so they won't sneak up on me like they did before. I've learned!"

Tikki perked up. "Oh, right! I knew that. You're doing a good job, Marinette!"

"I try." Marinette flashed a smile at her kwami, then turned back to her work. "Now, to attach all of this to the lock..."

* * *

The making of the actual box came next, after Marinette was satisfied with her mock-up of the trap and how well it worked. A few small details had needed to be ironed out before she declared that step complete- it was absolutely critical that nothing could get jolted out of place if the box got knocked around, both so that the trap wouldn't _stay_ armed by accident and so that the entire lock wouldn't jam up at some critical moment and refuse to disarm and open- and so Marinette's demo rig had undergone several rounds of rigorous shaking, knocking around, testing, and fixing.

But now it was absolutely rock solid and she could get to the next part. Making the box would be easy enough- a friend of her dad's owned plenty of woodworking tools, and he was willing to let her use them under his supervision, or, if the tool was deemed too dangerous for her skill level, he would listen to what she wanted and then do the work for her. All she had to do was have all of her plans ready, and then she could reach out and probably have that part done and over with in an afternoon. It would be easy-peasy. She had the time.

Or at least she _would_ if she could persuade the Guardians that _really_ , now was _not_ the time for them to try to do long-distance learning to continue her training. Apparently they had held a meeting after her call to Master Norbu and were concerned about a Guardian in an active battle zone having had such limited training. Obviously it wouldn't be practical for her to move and join them, but they _could_ send assignments. And they _had_ sent assignments, with the clear expectation that she would complete them as soon as possible. And the number of assignments kept increasing, faster than Marinette could _ever_ hope to finish them. There were readings and spells and potions and ingredients to learn the properties of and details about side powers that different Miraculous had, ones that became more available as users got more advanced but only in certain conditions...

It was all interesting information, and useful, but it was a _lot_ , and it seemed like the Order was expecting her to read through and study everything _right away_. So Ladybug had to bring it up when Master Norbu called to check in with her.

"Okay, I can see where this information might come in handy and obviously it's a good idea to have a solid base to work off of and more information means more tools for me to use, but I don't have _time_ to add extra lessons on top of everything else and still do the box, and I think that's a priority," Ladybug told the older Guardian. She had only managed to finish one of the 'assignments' that had been sent, and just looking at the others piling up was _exhausting_. Exhausting and stressful and anxiety-inducing. She didn't want to appear ungrateful, or as though she didn't appreciate the Order's efforts to get her better trained, or like she wasn't taking her role seriously, but hadn't she already given up enough of her free time and her life to the Miraculous? Was she going to be expected to devote her every waking hour- at least those not spent in school- to the Miraculous, too? "And if I try to get _all_ of it done, I'm going to end up all stressed out, and that's not safe with the Butterfly on the loose."

Master Norbu considered that, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "Yes, I can understand that. Trying to learn while stressed is less than ideal for retaining information, too. Would there be a time where you could do the lessons without overstretching yourself? Some are quite important. For example..." He glanced off to the side, picking up a stack of paper and flipping through it before landing on a particular page. "The potions are quite important, I would say. Particularly the one I picked out for you to practice. It is a healing potion, and would come in handy if you or Chat Noir got injured outside of the suit. Or if something went wrong with the trap and it ended up mangling _your_ hand. It is a difficult potion, but I know you have made other ones before and that one would be particularly useful."

"Oh, I hadn't even _seen_ that assignment yet." It felt terrible to admit, but the assignments had been piling up so much that it had been stressing her out more and more to even _look_ at them. "I agree, though. That would be one to prioritize for sure."

"I can mark ones to prioritize," Master Norbu told her. "Ones that would be of immediate use and properly relevant to you. In our excitement over having a new Guardian to train, I believe that several of us temporarily forgot that you are in the middle of a battle zone and might not have the time for all of the regular training."

"That would be great." Ladybug let out a long breath, not sure if she was feeling more stressed or less. One or two lessons she could probably manage as long as the Order didn't expect them to be done right away, but if things were marked _priority_ then maybe they _would_ expect that she get them done quickly. "As for the others... I do have holidays from school. Summer holiday in particular would be the best for getting Miraculous lessons done. They're not coming up _super_ soon, but I won't have to deal with other homework then."

"That will have to do," Master Norbu decided. "We do not want to add stress to your plate. No, I know that we want her to learn everything!" he called to someone off-screen. "But we cannot ignore Ladybug's other responsibilities, which are many in number, or her mental health. We will focus on the practical and the helpful, and those can be done when you have the time to spare. The Miracle Box's safety should come first, you are correct, as should your stability. Let us know if you have all of the ingredients you need for the potion. If not, we can arrange to get them to you when we have the metal ready for your box. Speaking of which- I am assuming that we are still waiting on exact measurements?"

Ladybug nodded. "Yeah. The guy who's helping me with the tools for the box might have more suggestions and that _could_ affect some of the measurements. Probably not, since the measurements inside have to stay the same to hold the Zodiac Box, but just in case."

"Remember to account for the thickness of the metal inside," Master Norbu reminded her. "I would hate for you to get the box near completion and then have to redo all of it because of an oversight like that."

"Of course." She had been sure to ask them for the thickness of the metal for that exact purpose, and given herself a little extra wriggle room _just in case_. It wasn't _much_ \- and it would easily be accounted for by a little bit of extra foam- but it would make sure that her entire project wasn't destroyed by metal that wasn't _quite_ the right thickness or a cut that was a few millimeters off.

"Good." Master Norbu looked pleased. "I'm glad that you're taking everything into consideration. Will you have the wood pieces finished soon? We have all of the metal enchanted and ready to cut and mold as soon as we get the word."

"Definitely," Ladybug assured him. "I was going to reach out to the guy I know who has power tools today. I just had to do this call first, and then I can see when he'll be available to help me with picking out the wood and using the tools."

Master Norbu's eyebrows rose. "Well! I do not want to keep you, then. I hope to hear from you soon, Ladybug."

"Of course!"

* * *

The wood pieces were cut, and all of the enchanted metal had been Portaled from Tibet to Paris. The metal sheets were just like Ladybug had requested, the gears cast perfectly- and even with a few extras, should one or two tumble off of Marinette's desk and get lost- and the bear trap parts all made and sharpened beyond belief.

Marinette shook out her hand with a wince as she glanced towards the finished knifelike blades of the trap. Her finger had just _brushed_ against one of the sharpened teeth earlier as she was laying out the pieces, and it had cut her- not badly, but enough to hurt. Thankfully she had pre-made the healing potion and had been able to vanish the cut away to nothing but a memory in no time, but it was obvious that she was going to have to be very, _very_ careful.

Thankfully, the Order had also made a leather guard to go over the teeth, just to make it a _little_ safer to handle while she assembled everything. Otherwise, Marinette _really_ wouldn't know how she was going to handle it well enough to make sure that everything was securely attached into place. Even with the guard on, she was going to have to be careful.

The inner box went together first, and then the metal layer on the outside. The shoddy-looking outer layer was put on top of that, hiding the metal altogether. That change in the design had been suggested by her father's friend, actually, and had been both so that the metal would be hidden and secret and to make it easier for her to put the box together.

It took a little bit to get the cuts for the keyholes all lined up, and then those- both the regular lock, and the 'mistake' lock for the trap- were inserted before the last screws were bolted into place on the box, holding the outer layer together firmly. Then, very carefully, Marinette started fitting the gears and connections together for the spring and the trap.

Thankfully she had told her parents that she had a Very Serious Project that she had to work on (for school, she had claimed) and that they were not to interrupt her, and if any of her friends came over unexpectedly to hang out, she wasn't available and they couldn't come up. The only thing that could _possibly_ interrupt her now was an akuma.

"Does it feel good to have this be the final product?" Tikki asked as Marinette slotted another gear into place. "Knowing that once this is done, you're going to get to use it and not have to worry about it anymore?"

"I worry that I'll mess something up on this and that would be bad, but that's why I went to the dump and got all of that scrap wood." Marinette nodded over to the partially-hidden pile of wood- mostly old table and chair legs that she had collected. There was a lot of it, but that- and the fact that it would have been hard to explain to literally _anyone_ \- was the reason why she had used the Horse to go to the dump in the first place to get the scrap wood. "But yeah, it's going to be nice to see everything come together and not have that project hanging over my head."

Tikki smiled, then tilted her head to the side, considering the box. "I thought it would look- well, _messier_. I thought you said that you wanted it to look like a beginner's project."

"Yeah, but _too_ messy, and it'll be pretty obvious that I was doing it on purpose. You'll see." Marinette checked her prototype again to make sure that she was doing everything right, then picked up the next piece. "It's a balancing act. That, and I didn't want to have to deal with splinters, which would have been the most obvious sign of a beginner project."

"Ooh, yeah, _that_ wouldn't be any fun!"

" _And_ it would have looked pretty odd, if my parents saw it," Marinette added. She frowned at the piece in her hand, then swapped it out for a different one, just a little smaller. "They know that Dad's friend does all of the cutting and helps with the sanding. Even if this was one of my earliest projects, they would know something was up if the pieces weren't cut right. Besides, splinters are fairly easy to fix- a regular square of sandpaper could probably help a lot, and even if I was younger and just doing the project for fun, I would do that much at least."

All of the gears and other pieces were together by lunch, when Marinette took a short break to actually eat something. As soon as she was done and her dishes were cleaned up, she returned upstairs to finish up the structure of the box itself and put the last bits of the trap together.

And then it was time to make the box look like a beginner's project.

"See, I have this putty that will go over the screws and hide them," Marinette told Tikki as she worked, carefully hiding each screw under a smoothed layer of putty. She would have to sand it down later, but that wasn't a big deal at all. "And then I have these _really_ terrible nails that I'm going to be putting in. They probably won't all go in completely straight, and it'll look like they're the only thing holding the box together. Add in the fact that the outer layer of wood is really thin and cheap-looking 'cause it's plywood, and it'll look like I don't know what I'm doing."

"And the reason why the trap lock is crooked is because it's supposed to look like a mistake, right?"

"Exactly." It had hurt her inside just a little to deliberately put the lock in crooked- _upside down_ and crooked, no less- but she wanted it to look like she had done a practice run with the lock on a bit of scrap plywood and then had to use the piece in her box. That way, she didn't have to worry about hiding the lock to disarm the bear trap somehow. Marinette finished the screw she was on, then flipped the box over in her hands, looking for any screws that she missed. "We're getting close, Tikki."

Tikki cheered, zipping around in a circle. "Great! And then the Miracle Box will be safe, and we don't have to worry about Hawkmoth enslaving any more kwamis!"

"Exactly." Marinette finished hiding the last exposed screw and sat back, examining her work. "Now that just has to dry before I can sand it and put any varnish on. While we wait- Tikki, can you pass me the nails?"

* * *

The box was done, and it was _glorious_.

Maybe it didn't _look_ that way from the outside, with the uneven nails and obvious plywood visible under the splodgy, uneven varnish. But the bear trap inside was absolutely perfect- Marinette had spent a _lot_ of time testing it, poking the box with her scrap wood both when the trap was set and when it was disarmed to make sure that everything was working right- and unless someone knew what they were looking for, they weren't very likely to notice the signs that the box wasn't _quite_ what it appeared to be. The lock to the box itself re-locked automatically when it was closed, and the lock for the trap had to be re-locked before the key would come out, which ensured that she would remember to re-set it before she took off again.

The Order was duly impressed when she showed the box off over video call. Master Norbu had been joined by several other Guardians and they had watched as Ladybug showed off the box and the damage that it caused when she didn't disarm the trap before opening it.

"That is _quite_ well engineered," Master Lhami told Ladybug as she finished demonstrating and explaining how disarming the trap ensured that it _wouldn't_ go off, even if the box got knocked around a bit. "I know Master Norbu mentioned that you are interested in clothing design, but clearly engineering would not be much of a stretch, either."

Ladybug ducked her head, hoping that she wasn't turning red. "Thank you. It- it was a challenging project, but I'm happy with the result."

"As you should be. I do not think that many people would have been able to come up with something like that, particularly if they had as many other things demanding their attention as you have had." Master Norbu smiled at her. "I cannot remember if I passed on the message, but our metalworkers were _quite_ pleased with how exact and detailed your instructions for the pieces were. They appreciated not having to go back and forth to hammer out details."

Ladybug smiled wider. "I'm glad to hear that. They did a _very_ good job. All of the pieces were perfect."

"It is a pity that the genius in the trap had to be hidden behind cheap wood and a poor-looking exterior, but I can understand the decision behind it," another one of the Guardians- not one that Ladybug was familiar with- chimed in. "Most people would not bother going after the locks on a box that looks like a beginner's project, and that is the important thing."

There were murmurs of agreement at that and nods all around.

"I know that a box like that would likely be the last place I would look if I were in a villain's shoes," Master Norbu added in. "Though I would still hide it well, which I know that you've already discussed doing." He smiled at her. "As far as first impressions go, Miss Ladybug, I think it's fair to say that you have exceeded our expectations."

"Thank you," Ladybug managed. Her cheeks felt like they were on fire. "I couldn't have done it without your help."

The call finished with a few more exchanges of pleasantries and a few suggestions of what she might find most helpful to look at next in her assignments. Ladybug ended the call with a smile and a wave, then hung up and released her transformation. Tikki flitted free, zipping eagerly around Marinette.

"Did they like it?"

"They _loved_ it," Marinette assured her kwami. "They really liked my demonstration with the last of the chair legs, too. I think it really helped assure them that the Miraculous are safe and that I'm taking my role as Guardian seriously."

Tikki sniffed. "If anyone thought that you _weren't_ taking it seriously, I would question their judgement! You've been very focused." She zipped around to perch on Marinette's desk, still beaming. "And now you're all done with that project! What are you doing next? Maybe you can take a small break from Guardian stuff and sew that dress you were talking about! I know you have the fabric, I can find the design-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Marinette laughed. "I'm not _quite_ done yet." She picked up the box from its spot on her desk, heading over to her storage bench and opening it. Pushing aside the pile of presents inside, she tucked the box at the very bottom and covered it back up before closing the bench. That got locked, too. "The box is done and hidden, but I still have to clean up. There's a reason why I didn't put the Horse miraculous away earlier. If mom and dad see all of the splintered table and chair legs, they're going to have questions."

"Ooh, and questions aren't a good thing!" Tikki agreed, zipping forward to help. She started gathering up splinters, tossing them into the trash. "I'll help clean up. _Then_ we can have a fun break before diving into the Guardian stuff again!"

Marinette smiled. "Now _that_ sounds like a plan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter one... of two! Yep, you read that right, it's not a one-shot :D
> 
> ....more like two one-shots and it made far more sense to stick them in the same story for the sake of being at least a little concise, but details, details.
> 
> As always, comments make my day! :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...the trap snap that you've all been waiting for.

Lila sniggered to herself as she snuck up the stairs in the Dupain-Cheng bakery, unnoticed and unhindered.

Really, it had been _way_ too easy to get in. All it had taken was feeding Alya a lie about how she had lent Marinette something to help her finish with their most recent Literature project but hadn't gotten it back, and she was worried about approaching Marinette to ask for it because, well, Marinette had been so busy recently that she probably _thought_ that she had returned it. Lila was worried about appearing like she was accusing Marinette of stealing it if she asked about it, and they were only _just_ starting to fix their relationship after getting off on the wrong foot. Alya had swallowed the lie like it was the most believable thing in the world, clearly thrilled that Lila and Marinette might be on the road to reconciliation, and from there all Lila had needed to do was suggest that maybe it would be easier for her to just fetch her things herself than it would be to ask Marinette.

Alya had been too eager to help, going into the bakery herself and getting permission from Mrs. Cheng to go in. Then she had let Lila in the side door- "I can't _possibly_ go through the bakery myself, what if they recognize me and blame me for the time when Marinette got expelled and don't let me in!" Lila had exclaimed when Alya suggested that she just go in through the front herself- and made sure that she knew the way up before leaving. There had been a dicey moment when Alya moved to come up with Lila and help look, but Lila had waved her off with another excuse, insisting that she didn't want to eat up more of Alya's free time, especially when she _knew_ that Alya and Nino had been thinking of going out for ice cream.

Alya had left, Marinette's parents would be busy in the bakery for _hours_ , and Marinette herself was across the city at some sewing techniques workshop that she had won a full-ride scholarship for and hadn't shut up about all week. There would be no one to catch Lila and plenty of time for her to investigate Marinette's room and find- well, anything she could use against her.

A diary with embarrassing secrets, perfect for blackmail. Money, perfect for- well, money was always a good thing, and so was jewelry that she could pawn. Photos, also for blackmail. Sketches of designs for any other contests Marinette might have her eyes on, to copy and claim that Marinette had taken Lila's ideas. Maybe in-progress commissions that Lila could mess up, all the better to put a dent in Marinette's reputation if the damage wasn't found before she sent the pieces off to whoever had bought them.

One last flight of stairs, and Lila pushed open the door to the Dupain-Cheng apartment. Another set of stairs led up to a trapdoor that Lila could recognize as Marinette's (thanks to Alya's instructions), and she scampered up the steps and into the obnoxiously pink room at the top of the stairs.

The first thing she noticed: it was _neat,_ unlike what Alya had warned her. There wasn't fabric draped all over the place or notebooks left out. On one hand, that would make things more difficult because she would have to search to find anything interesting, and unless Lila wanted to raise suspicion right away, she would have to put away anything she took out. On the other hand, well, it would probably be easier to find some things if she didn't have to dig through piles of fabric scraps or whatever it was that Marinette apparently usually had scattered around her room.

"Okay, first impressions," Lila said out loud as she glanced around. Marinette's school bag was by her desk- maybe she could tear out a couple pages of notes, so Marinette wouldn't have them to study from on the next exam. Next to the desk was a mannequin with what looked like a fairly complete outfit on it, leather pants with a _lot_ of detail work and a matching jacket. Lila fingered the material, glancing at the seams on it. Since the piece was complete- or at least it _looked_ complete- Marinette probably wouldn't look at it _too_ closely before sending it off to its recipient. The recipient who, if the size of the pieces and the look of them was any indication, was probably Jagged Stone.

If she could mess with Jagged Stone's perception of Marinette and maybe mess up their working relationship, that would be _perfect_. Then he wouldn't feel inclined to do Marinette any favors like, say, coming in to call Lila out on her stories.

Lila decided that she would look for a seam ripper later, when she was poking around the desk. There was no point in stopping her assessment of Marinette's room now for that. After all, she had _plenty_ of time.

The desk was otherwise pretty clear of anything interesting, though Lila was sure that she would dig through it later if she had time. The boxes on it probably just had sewing stuff anyway, and that- well, mixing it up or taking things might annoy Marinette, but she probably wouldn't think _that_ much of it.

Across the room, though- well, there was a storage chest doubling as a bench, and Lila would be _very_ surprised if there wasn't anything interesting in there. There might be a lock to deal with, but she had expected that and brought along her lock picking kit along. A few pokes and she would be in, ready to find out any secrets that Marinette might prefer stay hidden.

"Why couldn't she leave her diary on her desk like a _normal_ person," Lila grumbled anyway, because it was _also_ very possible that she would unlock the chest and find...nothing. Maybe Marinette didn't _have_ any juicy secrets for Lila to exploit, and this whole trip would be- well, not for _nothing_ , because she was still fully intending on causing ill-intentioned chaos, but not _nearly_ as productive as she had hoped.

And considering that Lila was running _quite_ a large risk with her lies to Alya about the thing she had 'loaned' to Marinette, a large payoff would be _really_ preferred.

After a few more minutes of poking around- Marinette didn't keep a diary up near her bed, either, or any jewelry of any value, not that that stopped Lila from pocketing a few exotic-looking necklaces that she could always claim were gifts from people that she met around the globe- Lila turned her attention back to the large storage chest. The lock gave after a minute of working on it, and she flipped the lid eagerly, hoping that- well, hoping that there would be something interesting inside. Instead, she came face-to-face with...presents.

 _Boring_. Knowing Marinette, they were probably all homemade and not worth anything.

Lila scoffed, wrinkling her nose at the pile of gifts. There was nothing interesting about Marinette being so disgustingly organized that she had gifts for her friends prepared well ahead of the holidays and their birthdays. She shoved a couple of the presents to the side, her nose wrinkling further at the next row of equally neatly-wrapped presents underneath.

Except... they were all labeled as being for Adrien.

Lila's eyebrows raised as she glanced at the top row of presents and- yep, all for Adrien. On closer inspection, all of them had little post-its on them with what event- and what _year_ \- they were meant to be for.

She sniggered. Marinette was a little obsessed, wasn't she? But as interesting as this was, it wasn't exactly something that she could easily use as blackmail. A bit disappointed, Lila kept digging, shifting packages aside. One more layer, and her fingers brushed against a dark wooden box, one that looked like perhaps Marinette had put it together herself.

It was _exactly_ the sort of thing that a girl like Marinette- someone _annoyingly_ craftsy- would store her diary in. _Jackpot_.

Smirking, Lila pulled the box out and considered it, her smile dropping as she did. Really, upon second glance, it was surprisingly sloppy, with uneven, dripping varnish and wonky nails. It was ridiculously heavy, even for its size, and _especially_ considering that it was clearly made out of some cheap plywood. And oddly enough, it had _two_ locks on it.

Frankly, the locks were the only reason why she didn't immediately lose interest. If they hadn't been there, Lila probably would have assumed that it was actually a failed project that Marinette was trying to hide.

"Well, it doesn't take a genius to figure out which lock to try," Lila scoffed, setting the box on the floor in front of her and settling down more comfortably to work on it. "That second keyhole isn't even in the right spot!"

Really, had badly had Marinette messed up that she had managed to insert a keyhole in middle of one of the side panels, nowhere close to where the box and the lid had come together? It wasn't even _straight-_ in fact, it was upside down. Shoddy craftsmanship, all around.

(The fact that Lila had never made anything like the box and had no idea how to even _approach_ putting a lock like that on a box or even make any sort of box herself was, of course, completely irrelevant.)

Unlike the lock on the storage bench, the lock on the box wasn't very straightforward. There were more pins in this lock, and each one had to be individually maneuvered into place. Lila worked on it, scowling in concentration as she slowly picked it open.

Either Marinette had just _happened_ to have a lock sitting around that she used, or there was something _good_ inside of the box. No collège student was going to spend the amount of extra money it would take for a fancier lock like this for no reason at all.

With one last careful nudge, the lock gave. Lila grinned in triumph, flipping the box open. The lid seemed a bit heavy- for some reason it seemed to be lined with a strange metal band, but who _cared_ \- and there were a few stray papers and a thin journal sitting in the top compartment, on top of a wooden shelf with- _you have GOT to be kidding me-_ another lock, just barely visible. Lila reached in to move them, and suddenly metal flashed, quick as a blink. Lila shrieked in surprise, automatically yanking her hand back, but she was _far_ too late. Pointed metal teeth had snapped shut around her arm, keeping it in place, and- _oh god_.

They hadn't just closed _around_ her arm. No, they had gone straight through the skin and- oh _god_ the pain-

Lila fainted.

* * *

Marinette had been having a _lovely_ time at her sewing techniques workshop. Their instructor had walked the small class through all sorts of different ways of handling material, and next week they would be covering more tricky materials. They had gotten an entire binder with step-by-step photo reminders of what they had learned, and Marinette's already had notes scribbled up and down the margins.

She was _so_ glad that she had won the scholarship to the class. It wasn't that she couldn't afford it herself- after all, with the commissions that she had done lately for Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale, she wasn't left wanting for money- but considering that she often had to miss things because of akuma attacks, Marinette wouldn't have _wanted_ to spend the money on something that she might not even be able to attend. With the scholarship...

Well, if an akuma showed up, that would _still_ suck. She was learning _so_ much from the class and it would definitely up her design skills. Having to duck out on the class because someone got upset and Hawkmoth _had_ to akumatize them would be a _huge_ disappointment, because she would miss out on so much valuable instruction. But at least she wouldn't be spending her own money on it.

She still felt a bit guilty that she was doing the class and not spending the spare time working on learning more Guardian stuff, but the Order and Master Norbu had assured her that she should make sure to balance her superhero duties and her civilian life. After all, they didn't want her coming to resent her duty as Guardian because of everything that it made her miss out on.

The last section came to an end, and everyone turned off their machines and started packing up. Marinette tucked her sewn samples into her bag with her binder- at some point, she wanted to actually file the fabric pieces in next to their respective instructions, but that was a project for another day- and pulled out her phone, opening it up to check for messages. She had put it on silent for the class- silent with the sole exception of akuma alerts, _thank you Max for that setting modification_ \- so that no one would accidentally distract her. Sometimes the class chat blew up over the weekend, and having that pinging constantly throughout the class...

Well, it wouldn't give anyone a very good impression of her, that was for sure.

-and _oh boy that was a lot of messages_.

"My parents tried to call me _ten_ times, Tikki!" Marinette hissed, all of the relaxation and good feelings from the day gone in a heartbeat as she tried and failed not to catastrophize. "Oh my god, what if one of them had a heart attack or a machine broke and sent pieces everywhere and they're at the hospital and it's really bad and I should have been there and-"

"Call them back!" Tikki urged, sticking her head out of Marinette's jacket as soon as they were clear of the rest of the group. "And- look, it was _both_ of your parents calling, not just one or the other. So that means that they're probably fine, right?"

"Oh!" Marinette considered that for a minute, then dove straight back into her worrying. "Then maybe the bakery caught on fire and burned down and we're homeless and-"

"Just _call them back,_ Marinette!" Tikki exclaimed, though she was looking worried, too. "Then they can tell you what _actually_ happened."

Marinette wavered, then pressed _Call_. Her mom's phone rang once, twice, and then she picked up.

"Marinette! Ah, is your class over?"

"Yeah, we- we just finished," Marinette responded, her heart rate slowly dropping back towards normal. Her mom didn't sound _overly_ upset, so- maybe it wasn't super-serious? "I- I saw you called? And papa?"

"Yes, I hated to call during your class, but- well, there was an incident," her mom told her, sounding a bit hesitant. "Right away- your dad and I are fine, the bakery is fine, the house is fine. But your classmate- Lila Rossi- she broke into the house and into your room. She got into your storage bench and- anyway, long story short, there was a box in there that was, ah, quite severely booby-trapped?"

Marinette's heart skipped several beats, jumping straight into her throat. The- that was the box where she hid the Miracle Box. It was _very_ well hidden- after all, it had been in a locked storage bench, hidden under Adrien's presents, and then locked (several time over) itself- and she had assumed that that would be enough to keep it undiscovered. If _Lila_ had gotten into it- even just into the first layer- that could be enough to put the Miracle Box in danger. The police might want to know what was in the box, or they might have broken it open to get Lila's hand out- because presumably Lila had gotten her hand caught when she tried to get the box open, and getting the trap open wasn't exactly straightforward- or maybe Lila hadn't been caught too badly and had somehow persuaded someone to open the box for her. "It- yes?"

"Whatever the box is hiding- well, it's still hidden," her mom assured her, and Marinette couldn't stop herself from letting out a sigh of relief. "The second level is still locked. And the doctors _did_ manage to get it off of Lila's arm- well, after a bit of puzzling, at least, they said that set-up was very clever. That was why we called you, actually. We didn't want to bother you, but it was just taking the hospital and the police so long to figure out that lock mechanism and they had been hoping for a clue."

...well, at least her mom didn't sound upset with her. Yet, anyway.

"We've gotten the box back now," her mom continued. "And we've already dealt with the police, so you don't need to worry there. They understand that Lila wasn't meant to be in our house, much less your room, and that the box was securely hidden and locked up. The only reason they might want to talk to you is to learn more about why Lila might have broken in."

"To make me look bad, I bet," Marinette said dryly. "To steal things, or plant evidence, or try to find something to blackmail me. Why else?"

"Lovely girl." Her mom said something to someone else on the other end of the line, muffled and indecipherable, before she came back. "That's all, really. Will you be coming back soon?"

"Yeah, I'm heading for the bus stop."

"All right. See you soon!"

With that, the call disconnected. Marinette stared at her phone for a minute, then glanced down at Tikki. Her kwami looked just as worried.

"I thought that you had hidden the Miracle Box really well!" Tikki exclaimed. "That was a really nice place, and no one ever goes digging in there! Add in the fact that you had it locked, and it should have been _fine_."

"Yeah, but clearly Lila was digging around with the intention of finding anything that I had hidden," Marinette told her. She let out a sigh, the stress starting to inch back in on her, taking all of the relaxation from her sewing class away. Maybe the Miracle Box hadn't been found _today_ , but- well, this was hardly going to be the end of this whole fiasco. If ( _when_ ) Lila got akumatized again, she would probably go after the box again to see if she could break it. She might tell people at school about it- changing, of course, the reason why she had been in Marinette's room in the first place and making up completely different circumstances as to how she had ended up with her hands on the box. While Marinette really had no choice but to return the box to its previous spot for the moment- after making sure that it was re-set, of course- it wouldn't be _completely_ safe for the long term.

At least summer break was coming up soon and she had already been doing research on how to DIY hidden compartments. Clearly she would need to use that knowledge earlier than intended.

"Maybe she'll actually get in trouble this time," Tikki offered hopefully. "I mean, breaking and entering, trying to steal- you could try to press charges."

"Maybe, but considering how injured Lila probably is, she'd probably pull the sympathy card." Marinette groaned. "I don't understand how she even got _in!_ We've been keeping the side door locked, and mom knows better than to let _Lila_ into the house."

"If she got through the locks on the bench and the box, Lila probably knows how to pick locks," Tikki reminded her. "She might have just picked her way through the door downstairs."

 _That_ was a terrifying thought, honestly. That someone like _Lila_ could just pick her way past a door lock and get in her house...

"If that's what happened, I'm definitely going to petition my parents to get better locks." Marinette checked her room again, then headed back down the stairs. Tikki flew after her, phasing into her purse. "I don't think they would agree to put in booby traps, too, but- ugh, I'm going to be worrying about people getting into the house now."

"Maybe it's just a matter of the lock being old and needing to be replaced," Tikki suggested. "Hopefully your mom knows more."

"I hope so!"

It felt like it took _forever_ for the bus to come, and then it trundled along the streets far too slowly for Marinette's taste. She spent the entire trip worrying over different scenarios where Lila could twist things around to make Marinette look like the bad guy and trying to figure out where she could add a hidden compartment to her room, somewhere where no one would notice the addition.

This far, she was coming up blank. Maybe she could put something on her balcony- but that just didn't seem _secure_ enough. It would be _far_ too easy for a passing akuma (or, perish the thought, a passing _supervillain_ ) to accidentally knock into and destroy a hidden compartment. No, it would be better to get creative _inside_ her room.

Once she hopped off of the bus, Marinette wasted no time in hurrying home. The bakery was still open- hopefully business hadn't been interrupted _too_ much by Lila's injury- and she headed in, sparing a quick smile for a few regular customers that she recognized. Her parents had one of their normal bakers working the counter in her mom's place, clearly finishing up the day so that the Dupain-Chengs would be able to deal with the mess going on in their home.

Hopefully it wasn't messing production up too much. If both of her parents were upstairs and they had one of the normal back kitchen bakers at the counter, that meant fewer hands on deck to start preparing things for the next day. And since the staff wouldn't stay overtime, that meant that her parents would end up working long hours.

 _Freaking Lila_. Of course she just had to make life difficult for everyone else simply because she was spiteful and fixated on revenge.

Not wasting any time, Marinette headed upstairs. Her mom was in their kitchen and on the phone, her back to the door, but her dad wasn't anywhere in sight. That meant he was probably downstairs, which suggested that she _actually_ wasn't in trouble because she had the trap. If she had been, her dad would be there too, his arms folded and a frown on his face.

Her mom, though, was more than making up for the frowning as she argued with whoever was on the other end of the line.

"No, I am _not_ arguing the definition of 'breaking and entering' or 'trespassing' with you," Mrs. Cheng snapped into the phone, mere seconds after Marinette entered the room. Marinette paused, blinking over at her mom in confusion. Normally her mom didn't raise her voice over the phone. "You are not a resident here, you do _not_ get to let people in who we don't want inside. That is outright irresponsible behavior- no, I do not _care_ what your interpretation of the situation was, I already told you that. And I _will_ be contacting your mom about this. Perhaps _she_ can get it through your head how _unacceptable_ your actions were. Good- _bye_."

With that, Mrs. Cheng hit the _end call_ button with a flourish, scowling at the phone for a moment before noticing Marinette. Her scowl was promptly replaced with a smile. "Marinette! How was your class?"

"It went well," Marinette told her, biting back the urge to gush. That could wait until dinner, after the more pressing issue of Lila's break-in had been dealt with. "Who was on the phone?"

"That was Alya," Mrs. Cheng told Marinette with a sigh. She pocketed her phone and washed off her hands before returning to her dinner prep. "I was calling to ask her if- well, she stopped by earlier to get something, so I wanted to know if she saw or heard anything out of place while she was here. I just wanted to try to get a better idea of when Lila might have broken in so we wouldn't have to go through as much security footage-"

"Wait, why did Alya come over?" Marinette interrupted, frowning in confusion. She hadn't borrowed anything from Alya recently, and normally Alya at least texted her to let her know if she was borrowing anything from Marinette for some reason while she wasn't home.

"I was getting to that, don't interrupt," Mrs. Cheng gently chided her. "Anyway, Alya seemed pretty surprised about us having a break-in... until I mentioned that it was Lila."

Marinette groaned. She was getting a sinking suspicion that she knew where this was going. " _Please_ don't tell me that Alya let Lila in."

"...Alya let Lila in," Mrs. Cheng confirmed, sighing. "...on the plus side, at least she didn't pick her way in through our doors. I would be looking into swapping out our locks if that were the case."

"Why on _earth_ would she think that that would be a good idea in _any_ way?" Marinette exclaimed. "And- well, presumably she let Lila in and then just ran off instead of supervising her, which- even if Lila somehow made up some reason for _having_ to stop by my room, why wouldn't Alya at least have the common sense to stay with her?"

"Well, from what Alya said, Lila said that she had loaned you something and you had forgotten to give it back, and she was worried about bringing it up and making you upset... because you might think that you had already returned it and think that she was trying to frame you. Or something." Mrs. Cheng pinched the bridge of her nose, clearly exasperated. "It sounded like Lila was making it sound like you two were starting to mend bridges. And I _told_ Alya that Lila was found with a lock picking kit and some jewelry from your Nonna Gina in her pockets, but she's still insisting that it was all a misunderstanding. "

"How- how much did you tell Alya?" Marinette asked suddenly, brain all of a sudden dancing with pictures of Alya hearing about the trap and trying to dig into what, exactly, Marinette was trying to hide. She _presumably_ had enough sense to not go digging through Marinette's things in hopes of an interesting discovery, _especially_ considering how hurt Lila had gotten, but that didn't mean that Alya wouldn't incessantly ask her questions, and within hearing distance of other people, too.

Not that Lila probably wouldn't bring up the trap on her own- or would she? _Why_ would she? There would be no way to talk about it without making herself look bad. But if Lila's reputation was tanking anyway, maybe she would bring it up just to make Marinette look bad, too.

"Not much," Mrs. Cheng assured her. "I didn't _have_ to. I implied that Lila got into a locked box of sewing things and cut herself that way, which is very believable. Your fabric scissors are _sharp,_ as are your rotary cutters, and it's not hard to believe that someone who wasn't familiar with that box might get themselves injured. I'm not going to tell your most inquisitive friend about your _very_ mysterious and heavily-guarded trap box."

Marinette breathed out a sigh of relief.

"On a related note, I suspect that Alya might not be very keen on coming over here for a while," Mrs. Cheng added. "I was _not_ subtle about how irritated I was with her. And she just kept on digging her heels in more whenever I pointed out things that she wasn't considering or just flat-out missed." She paused, looking slightly sheepish. "And I may, before you got back, have insulted her investigative and observational skills. Just a little bit. I just got too mad about the fact that she fell for such an _obvious_ lie and didn't even _try_ to check with you about it before she went ahead and let Lila in."

Honestly, Marinette couldn't blame her mom for exploding. She couldn't believe that Alya would have done that- and apparently _still_ thought that she was completely justified in doing it. If Lila _hadn't_ gotten herself injured and had gotten away without being caught, who knew what sort of damage she could have caused or what information she might have gotten her hands on?

Frankly, if things had gotten to that point, once she realized what had happened, Marinette probably wouldn't have been able to resist the urge to pull out the Horse and Portal Lila to somewhere dangerous. The arctic, maybe, or the surface of the Moon. She wouldn't be able to cause trouble _there_.

After a pause, Mrs. Cheng nodded towards the couch. "Your box is there. I think the police said that it's currently disarmed, but be careful with it."

Marinette nodded, scooting around the table to grab the box off of the couch. She was planning on being super careful. After working so hard on the trap- well, she had once gotten a cut on her finger while she was assembling the booby trap, and that had been without any force behind it. She had no intention of becoming acquainted with those same blades _with_ force behind them.

Besides, the box was completely safe when it was disarmed, and Marinette _really_ didn't think that she was likely to ever just _forget_ to disarm it, not with all of the safety measures she had deliberately built in. All that took was unlocking the second lock first- the crooked one that looked like it had been a mistake, or just a practice run on a spare piece of wood that ended up _not_ being a spare piece- and then she could unlock the lid itself. There was a visible latch on the inside that would give away- to her- if the trap was set or not, and she _always_ checked it _just in case_ before sticking her hand in.

"I know how to open it safely and make sure that it's disarmed before I put my hand in," Marinette assured her mom. "After all, I designed it. I won't forget how to do it."

"Honestly, I figured that much. It wasn't a reassurance when I looked at the box at first because honestly, it doesn't _look_ like an expertly engineered box." Mrs. Cheng smiled over at Marinette. "But that's deliberate, isn't it? No one would suspect that there's anything inside when it looks like a beginner's project."

"It was either make it look like that or try to make some sort of ornate box with a hidden key hole so that no one could figure out where the lock was, but- well, I don't have the time or skill to do that sort of carving." Marinette ran one hand over the box, remembering how much effort it had taken to make the box really solid and then go back and make it look like a beginner's project, ramshackle and not at all sturdy. If the person looking at the box knew anything about construction, the presence of the lock would probably give away the fact that she knew what she was doing, but Marinette was willing to bet that most people wouldn't know that. "It would have been cool, though. I've seen some locks online where people would _never_ figure out how to open it unless they had been shown how, and that would have been nice."

Hawkmoth would probably just try to _slice_ the box open then, but- well, if he did, he was in for a surprise. The wood might crack, but the enchanted metal underneath wouldn't budge.

"You've done quite a bit of research about this, then." Mrs. Cheng considered Marinette for a long moment, and she resisted the urge to squirm. "Honestly, there's a part of me that really wants to question the box and say no to you having it, because it's clearly dangerous- I mean, I saw the damage that it did to Lila- and even though I know you'll be careful, it's hard to be comfortable with the idea of that being in your room. But clearly you've been responsible with storing it, and I trust that you wouldn't have gone so far out of your way to get the materials and do the modifications to that trap if you didn't think it was important to protect whatever is in there." She took a deep breath, and Marinette could tell that her mom was _severely_ torn about whatever she was about to say. "So your dad and I are going to allow it, and we won't ask about what you have in the box. Heaven knows you deserve some privacy."

Marinette let out a sigh of relief. "I- thank you."

"And- I didn't want to say anything over the phone, but the police _had_ originally wanted to talk with you about why you had that trap on the box," Mrs. Cheng continued, and Marinette's heart dropped right back into her feet, the moment of relief gone. "Because- well, normally kids your age don't _have_ stuff like that. But- oh, you should have seen it. Your dad got _very_ puffed-up and huffy with them about how this was the second time in less than two years that a classmate of yours had been caught breaking into your room with ill intentions and were you not allowed to protect your things? And one of the police was Officer Raincomprix, so of course he was in a pretty big hurry to drop that line of questioning. _Particularly_ when he was reminded that his daughter was the other classmate that had snuck in."

Marinette hastily muffled a laugh. She would have loved to see that, honestly. "And they didn't say that they would, like, come back later or anything?"

"Only to get a statement from you that Lila wasn't meant to be at our house at all. Your father and I discussed it, and- if it's all right with you- we'd like to pursue pressing charges. We've heard enough about Lila that we want to make sure that she won't be bothering you in the future. Breaking and entering is just- she's taken it too far. She's _been_ taking it too far, and I apologize for both your dad and I that we haven't taken it seriously. No _disorder_ is going to compel someone to target you to the degree that she has been, much less plot to break into your room." Mrs. Cheng shook her head, clearly disgusted at herself for having fallen for the lie. "At the very least, we want to look into getting a restraining order. That should keep her away from you."

"What if Lila spins some tale or tries to get sympathy and we can't get the order?" Marinette asked. Even with their evidence- well, from the sounds of it, Lila's hand was probably pretty mangled, and she didn't have the magical healing potion that Marinette kept on hand _just in case_ to put it back to normal. "What if they decide that her hand is punishment enough?"

"Then we'll argue that." Mrs. Cheng's voice was firm. "If you testify about what Lila has been like, then the courts will know that she's likely to just go back to school and cry about her wrist to get sympathy. And they've seen people like her before, I'm sure. They're not going to be as easily fooled as your teachers and classmates and- well, and your dad and I."

Marinette swallowed and nodded. That would be nice. That would be _really_ nice.

"And if they do- well, and even if they don't- I _will_ be talking to Lila's mother. There's no way she knows what her daughter has been up to, if she _still_ was letting her run around." Mrs. Cheng nodded once, sharp, and Marinette knew that there would be no stopping her mom now. She was determined to keep Lila away from Marinette and force her to see the consequences of her actions, and so it would happen.

Honestly, Marinette had the best parents _ever_.

* * *

Marinette let out a sigh of relief as she tucked the box back in its spot, piling the presents for Adrien back on top of it and shutting the lid of her storage bench. It locked with a _thud_ and a sharp _click_ , sounding sturdy and secure.

It was too bad that that was a _lie_. Marinette ran her fingers over the lock, wondering if she should try switching out the lock for a different style, something that would be harder- or, even better, _impossible_ \- to pick. It might be hard to do that without attracting attention, though, and if she messed it up?

It would be better to _not_ have signs of tampering on her bench, just in case. Maybe she should practice with putting in and taking out locks on a bit of scrap wood first.

A blanket went over the bench, set at a jaunty angle, just casual enough that it didn't look arranged. Marinette's backpack went next to it, the perfect picture of _nothing here to see_.

And still Marinette worried her lip.

"It'll be fine, Marinette!" Tikki told her, zipping up next to her shoulder. "Downstairs is all locked up, the box is hidden, and the bench is locked. No one is going to be breaking in- and Lila is in the hospital anyway."

"I _know_ , but..." Marinette trailed off, glancing around her room. Whenever someone entered her room without her consent- when Sabrina broke in, after Jagged Stone's camera wandered in while broadcasting _live_ to all of Paris, and then now with Lila- she always felt thrown off kilter and uncomfortable, out of place and not as secure as normal in her own room. It wasn't ever a nice feeling.

She couldn't even safely leave her _diary_ out in her room. Not her diary, not anything that might be the least bit valuable, not any signs of her crush or anything that might even _hint_ at her double life. Maybe it would be a good idea to tuck those things away anyway, but there was a _difference_ between having to simply put things away instead of leaving them out in the open and having to lock everything away under several layers of protection.

Marinette was starting to get the feeling that once she was older and had her own place, there would be a lot of personalization with false walls and hidden compartments where she could hide away- well, _everything_ , really. All of the parts of her life that she might be at all leery of anyone finding out about.

It was _always_ going to be a good idea to hide the Miraculous stuff, especially while Hawkmoth was active, but Marinette _should_ be able to expect some measure of privacy in her own room. The fact that she apparently _couldn't_...

Maybe it was a better idea to not dwell on that too much. And, with any luck, they wouldn't have any trouble going forward. She and her parents had talked over dinner and come up with a new rule for letting in friends and classmates: all visits had to be approved by Marinette before they set foot through the door. If she let them in herself it was fine, of course, but if they came in through the bakery and wanted to be let up then Sabine had to have a text on her phone from Marinette approving it. There would be no more surprise visits from her friends- or at least no _truly_ surprise visits, since she would at least get a couple minutes' warning from her mom's inquiry text- and no more people going up to her room when she wasn't there 'just to grab something really quickly, honest'. If someone tried to come over as a surprise and Marinette didn't see her mom's text right away- either because she was just busy or because she was out as Ladybug- then that was just too bad. They didn't just get to saunter up and poke around in her room unattended until she got back.

That- well, security reasons aside, it was a _really_ good change. There had been multiple times lately when Marinette had been in the middle of trying to catch up on homework and one (or more) of her friends burst in and interrupted her, and that had both thrown her completely off and eaten up time that she _really_ didn't have to spare because she felt bad about sending them away when they had come over to see her. There hadn't been any times yet where Marinette had been out as Ladybug and came back to find someone in her room, but, well, she couldn't get lucky forever. If they hadn't made the change, then it would probably only be a matter of time before Ladybug slipped into her room after a long fight and found Alya waiting there.

(That would be a _disaster_.)

"At least I hadn't gotten around to painting the trap with the poison that the Order sent me," Marinette commented after a pause, pushing away thoughts of her new visiting arrangements and how she _really_ should have implemented them earlier for the time being. The poison was a new suggestion from the Order, something to completely ensure that Hawkmoth wouldn't be able to steal the Miraculous, and it was a suggestion that made her really, _really_ nervous. She fiddled with one of the tassels on the blanket, then resolutely turned and headed up to bed. "The police might have been fine with the bear trap- if only _barely_ \- but a bear trap coated in poison? I would have gotten in _so_ much trouble."

"I still think it would be a good idea to put it on," Tikki told her. "I know it ups the scary factor even more, but in case Hawkmoth finds the box and he doesn't pass out from the trap- or if it doesn't catch him as much as it sounds like it got Lila, since he might be expecting a trap!- then it should still keep him from getting away scot-free. You have the antidote and the healing potions, so you should still be safe!"

"In _theory_ , at least." Sure, the Order had assured her that it would take some time for the poison to kick in, enough time for her to get to her remedies- a delay of sorts, followed by it absolutely _flooring_ the unfortunate person affected- but that still depended entirely on her keeping her head long enough to actually get to them.

Maybe she needed to consider a rearranging of where things were so that there would be less distance between the box and the antidotes, just in case that very dangerous and (hopefully) very unlikely scenario of the box snapping shut on _her_ ever happened.

 _Ugh_. More things to do, as though she didn't already have enough on her plate. But Tikki was right- Hawkmoth was too much of a threat to keep putting off the secondary level of protection. She would just have to be _super_ careful around the box- even more than she had been before- and prioritize getting her remedies located closer to the hidden Miracle Box.

That, and she _definitely_ had to make sure that she kept her remedy up-to-date, no slacking and letting it come close to expiration. And, well, she had to make sure that she didn't use up the healing potion- the potion that would immediately reverse the damage from the trap in case something went wrong- with injuries that she got while sewing or tripping over her own feet.

At least she knew how to make the healing potion. As long as Marinette kept an eye on how much she had- _and_ her (poorly) hidden supply of potion ingredients, those had to be next on her list of things to build hiding spots for after a new spot for the box and a close but not _too_ close location for the remedies- and made sure to top it back up whenever she got low, using it for other injuries shouldn't be a problem.

"I'll tell Mom no babysitting next weekend, and do the poison then," Marinette said, realizing that she hadn't said anything for a minute. "If I do it right away and the police end up wanting to see it again, then that'll be an issue. If I give it a little time, then I won't end up putting the poison on and then having to take it right off again. And I need to get some more supplies- a dedicated paintbrush, and some gloves so that my skin doesn't come in contact with it at all."

Tikki nodded, approving. "I didn't think of that! That's a good thought. I think that should be fast enough. And it'll give you time to think about ways you can shake up your set-up so that no one else will know about it again!"

"The biggest changes there might have to wait to summer, honestly," Marinette admitted. The amount of work it would take to make a hidden cubby- and to make it fast enough that no one would notice it- would be absolutely _insane_ , her biggest project yet. "But I'm sure that I can make some changes to up my security before then, and dream up improvements that I can make so that I'm ready to hit the ground running as soon as I have enough free time."

Her mind was whirring with more ideas already, actually. She would have to ask the Order to enchant more metal so to be Miraculous-resistant, pieces that she could put inside of the storage bench and keep it from being destroyed. If Hawkmoth (or his akumas) couldn't pick locks, that should be enough to stop him. And then if she practiced with taking out and putting locks in, then she could put in a lock like one she had seen online most recently, the one that had a hidden keyhole. Both improvements wouldn't affect _her_ ability to get in- which was a good thing, since speed was _super_ important during akuma fights- but should make things for difficult for anyone with nefarious intentions.

It would be a lot of work, of course, and might mean skipping out on a few outings with her friends to get things done quickly _just in case_ , but she could make the Miracle Box safe and secure again. It might even end up helping her in the long run, since now she knew where the weak points in her security were and could fix them before they were put to the test by an akuma or Hawkmoth. Sure, it wasn't ideal that people knew about the box at all, but- well, it wasn't worth crying over spilled milk.

Marinette would come back from this, and she would come back _stronger_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the end! Now that there's been one problem, security is going to go up for sure. There's not going to be any more people getting into Marinette's room without Marinette knowing.
> 
> I sort of headcanon that Gabriel inquires about the break-in after hearing something about a trapbox and Lila's accident. Marinette claims that she was tired of classmates trying to break in and protected some of her things and that the box was also an exercise in engineering that turned out more powerful than expected. She also claims her parents confiscated it as too dangerous, just to further dissuade any suspicion.
> 
> As always, comments make my day! :)


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